Please, nobody go rushing off to the dictionary in order to ensure your interpretation of the term is correct. The whole point of this thread is that the term “connote” denotes, according to M-W, this:
We know what the word, by definition, is, but what do you think and feel when you hear it? So riddle me this, Dopers, is the connotation of the word “pristine” positive or negative? Even if it’s just one grey hair on the wrong side and slips into being negative, or if it just barely tips the scale in favor of being a good thing, vote accordingly. My poll is not intended to measure degree. Please note the conspicuous absence of the “Depends” option, because most things in life “depend,” but I am interested in speaking in generalities.
Iiiiinteresting. Okay, speak up, kids. I expected the poll to be skewed toward positive, but not so highly. Negative/neutral voters, please post? I have an answer, but not now.
I am trying to think of any situation when I would use pristine with a negative connotation, and cannot come up with one. Unless it was sarcastic, in which case the word would still be positive even while the overall tone was negative.
There are no situations where “pristine” would have a negative connotation. Anyone who gets the impression that the word is capable of such a connotation just doesn’t know the definition.
Sorry, I know you don’t want “depends” answers, but it just depends. It depends on whether pristine is something to aspire to in the context it’s used.
The hospital room was pristine when WhyNursling finished her shift. - good
The novitiate acted with pristine grace, keeping God in her heart during her darkest hour. - good
The bleach removed the grass stain, leaving the shirt looking pristine. - good
My mother-in-law’s house is pristine; I’m afraid to sit on the furniture. - bad
“Oh, obscene finger gestures from such a pristine girl.” - Breakfast Club - bad
I don’t think “pristine” is what is carrying the negative in either of these (in my opinion, of course). In the first, it’s only the second clause that conveys a negative impression, and the second example is sarcastic.
I think some people hear the “priss” in “pristine” and associate it with somebody being fussy and judgemental, but that’s not what the word is supposed to mean.
I voted positive. However, I have heard it said that “so-and-so is talking pristine bullshit”. As in “pure unadulterated bullshit”. So I suppose pristine BS could be a sorta negative thing.
SS
I think of it as having a “retro” good connotation but only sort of neutral in modern parlance because it has overtones of inexperienced or overprotected as well as the nicer ones of untrammeled and pure.
My response is it depends (;)) on whether we’re talking about nature or people. If we’re talking about a pristine forest of beach, for example, the answer is positive or neutral. But were a person, say, using the term to describe someone’s living room, or an office, or anything else related to a human being being’s actions, I conjure up an image of someone over-officious and anal.
For me, the connotation is always positive. Even “pristine bullshit” is positively unadulterated, pure bullshit from the (negative connotation) bullshitter.
For me, the word itself is positive. Saying that “someone is talking pure bullshit” doesn’t make “pure” a word with negative connotations, either: what’s negative is the bullshit.
I still wouldn’t, not with the word “pristine”. To me it has a connotation of being unspoiled, maybe the cleaning people just left and nobody’s sat on the couch yet.
Someone over-officious or anal would have an “antiseptic” home or office. That would imply a standard of care which is unnecessary, overdone.
Someone used the word “untrammeled” as a condition of being “pristine.” I need to borrow that word because “pristine” always makes me think of new fallen snow.
But if I saw a forest of beach, I’d look for the sand in the forest; if I saw a forest of beech, I’d look for the trees.
